I've never seen anyone work so hard for the support of Iowan's in my life!
Stick It!
Posted on 01/27/2016 12:06:45 PM PST by conservativejoy
A sneak preview of what you'll hear from Cruz on Thursday night in the highly unlikely event that Trump doesn't show. You'll find all the points you'd expect in the clip below: Trump is snubbing Iowans by skipping the debate; Trump is too mercurial to be president; Trump is afraid to defend his record from Cruz; and the ever-popular "I'll debate you one-on-one anywhere" challenge that’s never worked in all of political history. Depending on how daring Cruz wants to be, you may hear a variation on this point on Thursday night too.
Reaaaaally iffy to attack Trump for doing something for vets, but his interest in charity for them does seem to peak whenever he's pulling a debate-related stunt at the media's expense. Cruz, ever calculating, will probably avoid an attack along those lines because it's too risky. Jeb Bush, who has less to lose and who's trying to stand out as the most anti-Trump candidate in the race, might not be able to resist.
Jazz and Ed haven't left much meat on the bone of Debategate this morning but let me say three things. One: Jazz thinks Trump skipping the debate is sound strategy because it "was going to be yet another situation where he would have to stand up on center stage while the rest of the candidates took shots at him." That's true, Cruz certainly would - but the rest of the field wants Trump to win Iowa. Remember, each of them is convinced that they'll beat Trump head-to-head; they're less sure about beating Cruz. My guess is that Thursday night will involve Cruz taking shots repeatedly at Trump and the rest of the field taking shots at Cruz to try to help Trump defeat him. By boycotting, not only will Trump (supposedly) not be there to rebut Cruz's attacks, he's missing a chance to join in with the others to create the perception that the party's united against Cruz. And for the record, I don't think the debate's going to be a ratings disaster. As Jazz says, Trump will remain the story whether he's there or not; ratings will be down without him but people will still tune in to see what's being said about him. And who cares what the national ratings are anyway? Iowans will be tuning in to see the candidates' closing arguments. They're all that matters now.
Two: Ed slaps Fox for suggesting that Trump's campaign manager bears some responsibility for the death threats that Kelly allegedly received after her dust-up with Trump in August. As I read Fox's release, they weren't accusing Corey Lewandowski of encouraging threats; they were saying that Lewandowski knows from media reports that Kelly's been threatened before after a major scrape with Trump and that he's now using that as leverage to get her removed from the debate (supposedly he said he'd hate to see her have another "rough couple of days" like she did after the last one).
He may not be orchestrating harassment but he's morally culpable for exploiting the near-certain prospect of another round of it once Trump starts riling people against Kelly again. I don't think that's a nutty interpretation for Fox to have of what he meant. And frankly, I don't know why Trump fans would resist it. One of Trump's supposed core virtues is that he's ruthless with the media. If that's the ethic that governs his organization, why wouldn't his campaign manager start using other people's death threats as leverage, even if he's not behind them? Gotta be "tough," especially with the jackals in the press, right?
Three: It's fair to say that Fox News's trollish press releases goofing on Trump vis-a-vis Putin were unprofessional. I have a harder time buying the idea that that's the smoking gun that proves Kelly, Bret Baier, and Chris Wallace would have been biased against Trump on Thursday night. Outside the hard-news hour at 6 p.m., which features old-schoolers like George Will and Charles Krauthammer who regularly criticize Trump, Fox News is far more pro-Trump than anti. I put the question to Twitter last night: Apart from NBC with its "Apprentice" series, which network has done more over time to promote Trump than Fox News?
He's been doing chummy interviews with Fox & Friends, Greta, O'Reilly, and Hannity regularly for years. Kelly has never said or done anything on her show to weaken Trump as much as Hannity has done to build him up as a legitimate choice for grassroots conservatives this year. If anything, because Kelly, Baier, and Wallace are all sensitive to their image as balanced reporters on a network of right-leaning commentators, they'd probably overcompensate for this fracas on Thursday by straining to be extra "fair" to Trump. And another thing: Although Fox's statements mocking Trump were trollish even for them, the Fox PR department has been infamous among media pros for years for being snotty and vindictive.
Their nastiness to Trump isn't a sign of overweening bias; more likely, it's a sign that they were tired of him endlessly demagoging Kelly and figured that the biggest troll in American politics wouldn't go crying when they gave him a dose of his own medicine. Still unprofessional, but don't be overcome by those smelling salts when you're contemplating how mean they were to poor Donald.
Might wanna run search on fraud/stolen valor/HuffPo Paul Rieckhoff before you post his crap.
I've never seen anyone work so hard for the support of Iowan's in my life!
Stick It!
Actually, Trump has not ‘won’ any debates. His supporters who probably didn’t even watch, trot over to Drudge to vote for him.
He’s a horrible debater.
He’s very touchy. He can’t stand criticism.
He’s a lightweight.
Sure, sure. Its all a master plan. I was even told by a Trumpster today that Trump had purposely fooled me into thinking that he, Trump, wasn’t trustworthy.
Yea, that’s some masterful planning right there. I can’t wait to see how this super genius stuff (really, really, super smart people, really) works out.
Is he suggesting that Fox News IS Iowa? I'm not sure Iowans would like that assertion.
Why do so many people continue to believe that Trump will show up?? If he does his campaign is done. The only way that this will happen is if Kelly somehow becomes ill and has to be replaced. Even then it’s not a done deal. Even if they yank Kelly Trump should still say “too bad, I made other plans”.
Trump is a master at playing chicken. The more the other debaters whine, the better Trump looks. They should just shut up and convince the voters why they are the real thing at the debates. Trump is giving them a free pass to do their thing.Trump knows when to hold the cards close.
Try not to be a fool and we agreed not to use the F word or a version thereof.
It only took 19 Muslims to cause this:
That is the only response you could think of?
And you actually typed it and pressed post too!
One Veterans group has already told Trump to keep his donations.
WISN- Keep Your Donations
Wow I am sure he makes a good salary with his non-profit, as sooo many of those administrators do, but I wonder if it might have been more democratic had he actually ASKED his members if they would like to participate.
Nice, founder has a whole list of accolades from mainstream and left publications. Good for him...
Honored by Esquire magazine as one of “America’s Best and Brightest†in 2004, Rieckhoff has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Recent appearances include: The Charlie Rose Show, 60 Minutes, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360,
Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Hardball with Chris Mathews, The NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, ABC’s documentary “To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports,†The CBS Evening News, Hannity and Colmes, BBC World, NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Real Time with Bill Maher, Tavis Smiley and The Colbert Report.
Rieckhoff has had opinion pieces printed by the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Knight-Ridder and The New York Daily News, and is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post and Military.com. He has been featured in U.S. News and World Report, Newsweek, The New York Times, GIANT Magazine, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Army Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The New York Post, Newsday and A.P. Rieckhoff is also the author of Chasing Ghosts, a critically acclaimed
account of his experiences in Iraq and activism on behalf of veterans, published by Penguin in May 2006.
Rieckhoff left his Wall Street job on September 7, 2001 with plans to travel and complete additional military schooling. Those plans changed dramatically on the morning of September 11.
I think it was very tacky of him to refuse—especially since he wasn’t even offered!
One Veterans group has already told Trump to keep his donations.
WISN- Keep Your Donations
Wow I am sure he makes a good salary with his non-profit, as sooo many of those administrators do, but I wonder if it might have been more democratic had he actually ASKED his members if they would like to participate.
Nice, founder has a whole list of accolades from mainstream and left publications. Good for him...
Honored by Esquire magazine as one of “America’s Best and Brightest†in 2004, Rieckhoff has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Recent appearances include: The Charlie Rose Show, 60 Minutes, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360,
Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Hardball with Chris Mathews, The NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, ABC’s documentary “To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports,†The CBS Evening News, Hannity and Colmes, BBC World, NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Real Time with Bill Maher, Tavis Smiley and The Colbert Report.
Rieckhoff has had opinion pieces printed by the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Knight-Ridder and The New York Daily News, and is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post and Military.com. He has been featured in U.S. News and World Report, Newsweek, The New York Times, GIANT Magazine, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Army Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The New York Post, Newsday and A.P. Rieckhoff is also the author of Chasing Ghosts, a critically acclaimed
account of his experiences in Iraq and activism on behalf of veterans, published by Penguin in May 2006.
Rieckhoff left his Wall Street job on September 7, 2001 with plans to travel and complete additional military schooling. Those plans changed dramatically on the morning of September 11.
I think it was very tacky of him to refuse—especially since he wasn’t even offered!
The icebreaker has returned to port, lets see how the rest of the convoy fares.
That’s pathetic.
Fox is not leftist. Why do you think the democrats hate Fox News?
I’ve been watching Fox some lately and I’ve noticed they are very fair to Trump.
But their statement as to why they would not be bullied into removing one of their moderators to placate the Big Whiny Baby was excellent.
I dont take orders from peal clutchers, sorry.
Perzackly!
Cruz does not want Trump there ... he just thinks he should man up and go.
There’s an odd dichotomy going on with Trumpers.
In one breath they brag about how far ahead The Don is and how he cannot lose.
Next breath they’re attacking Ted Cruz. Why bother if he’s no threat.
Little scared, Maybe?
Cruz telling Trump what to do? That’s gonna work. LOL!
If I told you that I cut and pasted it from a Trump Tweet I bet that would change your view.
Seriously, the sycophant behavior for Trump is over the top. Impossible to parody really.
“”Its unimaginable that someone running for POTUS would hit his opponent for refusing to debate.””
You would only hit your opponent for refusing to debate if you need to make up ground. When you’re in the lead you have no need to debate.
If Ted believed his own words- that Iowans would turn against Trump for ‘disrespecting’ them, why would Cruz want to prevent that from happening?. So yes, desperate.
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